This week’s homily will be an interactive process where we explore how we can use the arts to nourish our inner lives. Through the works of Hans Zimmer, Iris Van Herpen, Julia Baird, Damien Chazelle and others, we will rediscover how the arts are a window to the divine.

Ingerid Meagher is the homilist this week. She explores how what we experienced as painful failures in our lives has an upside. Endings need not be final failures but are the essential, fertile ground needed for new growth and transformation.

Hospitality is more than a social courtesy. It is a sacred act, a reflection of the Divine and a test of human character. John, our homilist, is shown in this photo with his wife Mary. They were in Fiji, where Mary attended the celebration of the 70th jubilee of her old school, St Joseph de Cluny in Suva.

Mark will talk about how we face the problems of wars, lies, injustice and hypocrisy. The International Day of Peace is on Monday 21st September so let us take the time and make genuine efforts to discern the truth from lies and misinformation.

In this Season of Creation, we are invited to embrace our interconnectedness and recognise our role in healing ecological damage. Terry and his son Jordan will be speaking about the process of regeneration, telling the story of how pasture-raised chickens are enabling this healing at Spores Farm – all the while yielding wholesome organic eggs.

In a world facing an escalating climate crisis, Season of Creation invites us to slow down and pay attention - to delight in the beauty of God's creation, lament what is being lost, and respond with hope as we join God's work of restoration, justice, and reconciliation.

God is a relationship, The creator the unknowable one, The spirit the indwelling one, The unknowable mystery.

Who do we call criminals and how do we treat them? While there are certainly terrible crimes, and secure prisons are needed, by and large we are criminalising poverty, mental health conditions and race. We hold Royal Commissions, and commission reports, but largely ignore their recommendations. What is going on?

Margaret Clifford will provide a reflection on the Gospel Reading of the Day, (Matt 15:21-28) and discuss questions that arise from the reading, such as: What are our responsibilities as part of the human family? How big is our God?